A newspaper colleague recently wrote a scathing story regarding the statue of Oscar De La Hoya that is scheduled to be erected on Star Plaza at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Said colleague basically wrote that this is a farce, that De La Hoya is not deserving of such an honor. He said that De La Hoya should certainly not have a statue adorn Star Plaza next to those of Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky, Lakers and Kings greats, respectively.
De La Hoya has lost all of his big fights, the colleague wrote. And, he wondered, how could De La Hoya possibly receive such an accolade before Lakers greats Jerry West and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
The opinion here is that some of what this colleague wrote made sense, and some did not.
First of all, even though De La Hoya has won world titles in a record six weight classes, he has indeed lost more big fights than he has won. He lost to Felix Trinidad Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and “Sugar” Shane Mosley twice.
Those were arguably the five biggest fights of De La Hoya’s career.
Big fights De La Hoya won were against Rafael Ruelas, Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey and Fernando Vargas. The knockout win over Ruelas was good, but not great because Ruelas had about as much balance as a one-legged fighter. The win over Whitaker was sloppy and, in the eyes of some, controversial as many experts (not this one) had Whitaker winning.
The win over Quartey might have been De La Hoya’s most impressive, even though there were those writers (again, not this one) who thought Quartey won. As for the victory over Vargas, De La Hoya showed tremendous heart in this one because Vargas was jacked on steroids and very strong in the beginning. It was also a fight between hated rivals and it was De La Hoya who came through with flying colors and an 11th-round stoppage.
Vargas may have been damaged goods thanks to a vicious knockout suffered at the hands of Trinidad two years earlier. Still, it was a very good, but not terrific, victory.
Speaking of Trinidad, there will no doubt be those who argue that De La Hoya won that fight, that he was robbed of a decision. It’s true, most experts had De La Hoya winning (this one scored it a draw). But De La Hoya didn’t do himself any favors by sticking and moving the first nine rounds, then literally running away from Trinidad the last three.
Remember, this was a fight that De La Hoya promised would be a war between the world’s two greatest welterweights at the time. Trinidad wanted to war, De La Hoya did not.
Interestingly, it is the only fight of De La Hoya’s career in which he really took the safety first approach.
OK, so De La Hoya is not an all-out great fighter. And one would think that in order to receive a statue at such a prestigious place, greatness would be a prerequisite.
But let’s keep in mind that there is more to De La Hoya than just wins and losses. He has generated more pay-per-view dollars than any fighter in history.
In a short time, he has become one of the top promoters in the game.
That is not to mention everything that De La Hoya has done for the city of Los Angeles outside the ring. He donated a large sum of money to White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights (near East L.A.) for a cancer wing bearing the name of his late mother, Cecilia, as well as for a children’s wing bearing his name.
Through his Oscar De La Hoya Youth Foundation, De La Hoya built the De La Hoya Youth Boxing Center in East L.A. It housed a boxing program as well as a learning center. The building was recently torn down to make room for Oscar De La Hoya Animo High School, a namesake school that is part of the Green Dot program that offers education to Los Angeles communities rife with social and economic adversity. It opened in 2003 and its temporary home is in downtown L.A.
Magic Johnson has done a lot for the city of Los Angeles as well. But if Gretzky, West and Abdul-Jabbar have contributed as much to the community in this way, we haven’t heard about it.
And what about Gretzky? How did he get a statue before West and Abdul-Jabbar? West played his entire career for the Lakers and Abdul-Jabbar played 14 of his 20 years with them. These guys are two of the greatest basketball players in history and both brought championships to Los Angeles.
Gretzky played the first nine years of his NHL career with the Edmonton Oilers, helping them to four Stanley Cup championships. He played the next eight years of his career with the Kings, but never brought them the Cup.
Did politics enter into Gretzky getting a statue before West and Abdul-Jabbar? That would not be surprising because politics are everywhere. Did politics enter into De La Hoya being scheduled for his statue? Well, we tried to get hold of Richard Schaefer on Tuesday, but he was in England and unavailable.
This is a poignant question regarding De La Hoya. Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, and Anschutz Entertainment Group executive Tim Leiweke announced the imminence of De La Hoya’s statue at the May 1 news conference promoting De La Hoya’s May 3 fight against Steve Forbes at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Home Depot Center is owned by AEG, the same company that owns and operates Staples Center. Seven days after that announcement, Golden Boy announced that AEG had purchased a significant amount of stock in Golden Boy.
Was the De La Hoya statue part of the deal? We’ll ask Schaefer upon his return, but it would be surprising if he admitted that. Not that we are questioning Schaefer’s character, but spilling those beans would take the shine off De La Hoya’s statue.
The feeling here is that if one takes all of De La Hoya’s achievements both in and out of the ring, a case could be made for him being deserving of this statue. If one goes strictly by his efforts in the ring, he is not.
Whatever the case, there is no excuse for West and Abbul-Jabbar not already having statues on Star Plaza. That is a head-scratcher, to be sure. West was “Mr. Clutch” and Abdul-Jabbar the greatest scoring machine in history.
But the Golden Boy is apparently going to beat both of them to the punch.
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